Guards for protecting the finish of vehicles around their fenders and wheel wells are known. Examples include those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,629,204; 5,582,430; and U.S. Published Application No. 2007/0182151.
Prior wheel well or fender guards tend to have complex shapes and attachment structures that would make them relatively expensive and complicated to install as aftermarket accessories. More importantly, they tend to trap water, salt, and dirt against or near the car body, and/or interfere with the ability to wash these corrosion-causing materials out of the wheel well.